


The Mutual Help

by Miss_Ponta



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Bad Cooking, Confused Kagami Taiga, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Kagami is dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:54:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24500374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Ponta/pseuds/Miss_Ponta
Summary: Kagami is an excellent player, that is an indubitable fact. But contrary to popular belief, he is no prodigy in anything other than basketball. A story of his journey to love despite his total academic fiasco!
Relationships: Kagami Taiga/Momoi Satsuki
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A Kuroko no Basuke fanfiction. Not you cannon pairing but they are cute, I promise.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke, sadly.

Chapter 1- Kagami is dumber than a Stick

Ever since Kagami entered the basketball club, he had been steadily plowing his way through myriads of wins and defeats. Always defying the customary architypes and proving everyone wrong, every single fucking time. 

He was a handful alright, but headstrong and talented, nevertheless.

With someone like Taiga on the team, their plays had spun wonders, this year’s winter cup to name one. Seirin’s basketball team had developed into one of the most formidable teams in Tokyo, hence an avenue for people who fancy entering a team of winners.

But before anything else, Seirin High School is primarily- a Japanese academy, and Kagami Taiga is first and foremost a student. A Japanese student if Kuroko may add.

* * * * * * * 

Kagami was met with strained, unrewarding glances from everyone in the team. They had been looking at his proficiency results which came up earlier that day. He couldn’t figure out what went wrong, he was dumb, yes but to what extent, today’s result proved him dumber than a stick.

“I can’t believe you got 3 marks in Japanese”. Hyuga commented, almost exasperatedly. 

“His English results are no better; did he really grow up in America?” Koganei stated reprovingly, as if he was mocking him.

“Bakagami, we pulled up 2 all-nighters for this! There’s no helping you” Riko muttered darkly while holding a paper fan which miserably met Kagami’s head and whacked his nonexistent brain. Everyone just watched with horror laced in their eyes.

Grades rarely had anything to do with basketball. But today was not like most days, today grades mattered. This scenario had happened before, when a Tokyo-wide proficiency test was held amongst all the schools in the vicinity and Seirin included. Students who proved successful of falling to the bottom one hundred of the entire student body will be taking remedial classes. Last time, the date had clashed with their upcoming match but this time around, an entire summer of remedial class was waiting for Kagami if he ever fails. Fortunately, he passed the last time with the help of Midorima’s lucky pencil. It just so happened that he misplaced the said amulet, hence resulting in his current predicament. He must pass, at all cost- but without the pencil, could he?

It was late afternoon and classes had ended, Kagami was leisurely strolling his way towards the fast food place which he frequents with Kuroko. He rose his one hand, stifling a yawn while the other stroked his cranium which was still suffering from the remnants of Riko’s wrath. His bag, a tad bit heavier than usual, since it was full of study materials forced to him by everyone. 

To say that he was angry would be an understatement, he was furious, enraged, fuming. Because in his daily life program, basketball was everything, and studying was- well, he hadn’t held a book since last month so the implication of that. Of course, Kagami tried, if one could call that trying. Several times, he attempted to open the notes made by his senpais, but somehow, somewhere along the second paragraph his eyes had slowly sagged down and before even the fourth sentence it would be clammed shut. 

When Kagami neared the burger place, his annoyance was magnified twice. A string of vein materializes somewhere along his face at the sight of a lonely notice attached at the front door of the place.

“Closed.” Or so it says. Why now of all times, Kagami nearly knocked an innocent traffic cone over out of fury. This day had been a disaster, he thought to himself. He woke rather late and was reprimanded by his teacher, his test result came out and he had met Riko’s wrath. Because of his failing marks, he was excused (forced) of basketball practice for a week to focus on the upcoming exams and now this. He was so furious that he did not realize that he was practically stomping towards the nearby basketball court. 

He decided to dribble every last bit of frustration he had today until they are no more, at least that’s what he thought until he saw a flashing pink followed by a violent cry.

Dai-chan, where had he heard that name again?


	2. Uncharacteristically Tender

She was two levels angrier, no scratch that, she was livid and beyond furious. Momoi indignantly plunged the ball to the waiting hoop with vigor that rivals the generation of miracles. She wanted to scream and scream she did.   
“Dai-chan, you stupid, idiot!!!!!” came her earsplitting shriek that it resounded to the empty courts and possibly woke the entire neighborhood. She ran some more, dribbling the ball with her tiny hands and practically wheezing her frustrations through the hoop. Locks of pink were flying unceremoniously all over the place, in a messy ponytail she made. The sleeves of her uniform had been rolled scruffily on her elbows with a green jacket hugging the curves of her hips. She looked pleasantly rumpled, Kagami thought to himself.   
Wait, what! He did not just say that. He was not a pervert. Kagami was in the middle of a mental confrontation when her stray ball trundled over the spot where he was watching her, quietly.   
“Kagamin…?” flushed pink met crimson red. She moved her head a little to the right, indicating her confusion for the sudden disturbance. All his previous anger suddenly melted and flushed down the drain. Now, he was just panic-stricken. Afterall, he never expected such turn out of events.   
An even redness started to surface his cheeks when Momoi moved her face closer to his. He was suddenly feeling so unwell being the subject of her attention.   
Yes, Kuroko would like to repeat how useless Kagami was, in everything except basketball. Dealing with women is out of the question. Other than his perverse encounters with Alex and their basketball coach, he had zero association with womenfolk. 

“Kagamin, are you here to play as well?” she asked again, this time around, her head retracted, an act for which he was quietly thankful for. 

“I, -yeah” he muffled a sad excuse for an answer. 

“Great! I was getting tired of playing by myself” she was practically beaming, and he stopped himself from chuckling. The transition of her moods was literally faster than a beam of light. One minute she was furiously spitting profanities, the next, she was all smiley over something so trivial. Without further invitation, he dropped his bag near her belongings and walked his ass on court in full throttle, wearing his infamous smirk. 

One hour passed and two exhausted souls were heavily panting on the nearby bench. 

“Kagamin, you are a monster” she spoke in between her rapid breathings. 

“I could say the same to you” he was grinning widely, beads of sweat trickling down the outlines of his face. She then picked a towel from her bag and offered it to him. A contented pause and one pregnant silence before Kagami spoke again.

“So, why are you so loud earlier?” She snapped her eyes at his question. She honestly did not expect him to bring up her humiliating actions from earlier. She eyed him, with disbelief, of his crass language and blatant insensitivity. Yet his eyes remained fixed into the broadest of skies.

“What did asshomine do again?” He muttered critically the second time. Somehow, his snarky question made her feel smile a little. He added the word “again” meant that he remembered the last time she came crying to Tetsu because of Aomine. It wouldn’t hurt to let her guard down a little. 

“I…I baked cookies for the team today and Dai-chan said I was going to get everyone killed, and that I, I should give up cooking.” With tears glistening in her eyes, she was practically sobbing. And Kagami was terrified, this was the second time he had made her cry and for whatever reason god knows he was always at lost as to what to say during times like this. So, she had the same predicament as Riko, women are such a pain, he thought. What would Kuroko do at a time like this? 

Oh right, he remembered. Mustering the little bit of bravery Kagami had left, he motioned his big calloused hand towards her head. For a moment she was stunned.   
The way he stroked her was blaringly awkward, his hand was stiff, and she felt as though he was patting a frail puppy. Her loud sobs became subtle sniffling. For someone so buff and scary looking, Kagami Taiga was uncharacteristically tender. 

“If you want, I could teach you. I mean- if you only want.” He added the last sentence hastily, to avoid any form of shade. Momoi practically squeezed the life out of him. And just like that, Kagami wasn’t so sure anymore if he was doing the right thing. Damn Satsuki and her ginormous tits!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n: This is my first time writing a Kagami-centric fic, so I had my doubts if I had kept him in character. Nonetheless, it was pretty fun writing about them. I think, Kagami’s seemingly ruthless character fits with Momoi’s jittery personality. If you add them together, a strangely shy and awkward Taiga. 
> 
> Criticisms are welcome!


	3. Poetry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy reading!

Kanji verses and an entire jargon of poetry and what nots. Kagami was never, not in a million years will he find Japanese literature agreeable. Not to mention how their old flabby teacher had taken a relatively boring subject and made it completely insufferable. Ah, his hands were practically tingling to hold a ball. He met with their coach earlier that day demanding that he be allowed to practice but she was as hard as nut. Riko was Riko after all. 

Looking at blushing roses outside of the window, his mind rapidly remembered another shade of pink. 

Great. A hundred claps for his foolish little proposition. Why did he have to offer her that, like his life was difficult as it is already, not to mention his failing grades. If the team would know of his “little” mistake, they would beat him to dust. Kagami shivered at the notion of his impending doom. If Kuroko saw his shoulder stiffen from behind, he dared not comment on it, at least not for now. 

It was lunch break when Kuroko was convinced that his bulky friend was immensely unsettled. Apparently, it had something to do with a sly little text he had received earlier. He for a fact knew how blaring and outright boisterous Kagami was, but today he was surprisingly unspeaking. It was as if, his brainless friend had been thinking for a while without practically inhaling his food like he often does. Later that day, Kagami left hurriedly with a few words of parting and some muttering which he did not even understand. 

* * * * * * * 

“Kagamin! I’ll wait for you at the train station, six pm. Don’t be late! ☻” He went through her text the fifth time that day. Standing uselessly through the crowd of passing commuters, time seemed to stretch quite dramatically. Twenty minutes passed, and he was a little displeased with her tardiness. Needless to say, she had the audacity to speak of punctuality when she was running late herself. 

A rattled pinkette came running to him a little later. He met her eyes with a slight displeasure and she breathlessly apologized. She may not have noticed but he was a little breathless himself. Eyeing her showy little entrance, she was wearing a cream turtleneck dress underneath a pink coat with matching black winter boots. Her face looks a little red, probably from running and she had her hair down, as usual. 

“Kagamin? Are you okay, you’ve been staring” She met his eyes curiously. It took all his entire being to stop himself from looking so flustered. 

“You- you’re late” it came out as a croak, not quite as he had imagine saying it. Damn, why is he stuttering like an elementary girl. He had to pull himself together or else she might think he is some weird bloke wearing basketball shoes. As they walked to his flat, she talked about how she forgot to bring her phone and keys, hence had to go back, causing her tardiness. He simply nodded his head. Along the way, Momoi talked about all sorts of things, her team, Tuou Academy and some about Aomine no less. For some reason, the sound of her voice reminded him of poetry. But he kept that little thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a relatively short chapter. I had nearly exhausted my vocabulary :)


	4. The Cooking fiasco!

Kagami Taiga was staring.

Yes. Staring. Disturbing red eyes had been scrutinizing her entire soul for a whole thirty seconds and Momoi was suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. 

The next thing she knew, he was snorting, a sidesplitting snicker escaping his mouth. She painted her brows with enough confusion to send him the message and he laughingly pointed at the apron she was wearing. She had not noticed a huge scribble that spelled ‘UGLY’ with few other indistinct drawings of her, a more prominent female demon with huge tits, pink hair and protruding horns, no less. She stiffened and he stopped snickering all of the sudden. 

It seemed like Daiki had the balls to mess with her favorite cooking attire and funny how it would sound but Kagami was a little fearful for him, seeing the ominous aura surrounding her.

Setting that aside, Momoi examined his flat, something she didn’t do the moment she came in earlier. It was pretty huge for a one-person occupant, to be able to afford such place, Kagami must be pretty well-off. His place has a significantly large living room, equipped with furnitures which ranges on selected colors of black and white. A set of black couches draped with several carelessly thrown shirts, a large television set, and a relatively large table that holds an awfully messy pile of study materials and some crumpled burger wrappers. One could guess that this was dwelling place of a male, from the obvious lack of decoration except for a single NBA poster glued at the door of his room. 

In respect to the mess of the living area, the kitchen was surprisingly clean. To say that Momoi is shocked would be an understatement, she was awed. Everything was sensibly organized, an array of inclusive kitchen wares can be seen on the countertop, the decks of utensils carefully stashed on the cupboards. From the knives of different sizes and forms to the ridiculous amount of grocery items tucked in the refrigerator. He even had an oven and a fully functioning coffee machine. She giggled to herself, this domesticated side of Kagami was really adorable. 

“Kagamin, help me bake these cookies!” her hand pointing at the cookie recipe on the glossy page of her cookbook she bought two weeks prior. 

“I’m pretty strict ya’ know” She merely laughed

Kagami stood next to her, allowing his eyes to go over the instructions. Making chocolate chip cookies is easy enough, he mused to himself. Grabbing his apron from one of the cupboards, Kagami wore it in one swift move while Momoi was pulling her hair in a messy bun, soon after both started to collect the ingredients. 

“Measure the amount of flour.” Was what he said, but she had poured a ridiculously huge amount of it, so much that the bag had so little left of it.

“Beat the eggs” he ordered. She cracked them so hard that several bits of the shells remain in the solution. 

“Stir the flour mixture” stir she did, but not hard enough hence, ending with a half-assed, uneven mixture of flour, eggs and butter.

For a moment, he sort of understood the reason for Asshomine’s snarky response to her cooking attempts. Looking at her made him think that she was a perfect copy of Riko but with the pink hair and chest, of course. What the hell had he gotten himself into?!

Her baking attempt caused her to slip on the floor, with a dozen of awfully cracked eggs, two packs of flours, a broken bowl and two small burns on her fingers. If Kagami was terribly appalled, he did not show it. Despite her exceptional analysis skills, she had a culinary aptitude of a child, how fun. 

When she finished her awfully looking first batch of cookies, he was a little scared for his life. What if she accidentally added poison in the food causing him to be bed-ridden and stay out of basketball until he died? His thoughts remained unheard while he eyed her, a mix of delight and pride. She placed two cookies on a plate and nervously handed it to him, nervously, he noted. This was the first time he ever saw her that way. Of the number of times he saw her, she was everything but that. She had always been dignified and graceful, most especially on court. 

When she offered her plate of cookies with her band-aid filled hand, he softened at the sight of her. Her cheeks had smears of flour, and a sudden urge flooded his mind telling him to brush the stray hair falling on her cheeks. What a preposterous thing! This must have been the effect of the perversion Alex had been speaking of.

Her cookies looked abnormal in every physical sense. To an unknowing person it might appear as flat, tanned and disfigured lumps of somethings, but he knew better. Regardless of how it looked, the ingredients she used were normal, so he blindly hung unto that fact. With her hope-filled eyes, Kagami took a bite.

The dough was half-baked, and it tasted more salty than sweet. Kagami was floored, salty chocolate chip cookies! What a terrifying girl, he thought inwardly as he tried not to barf the saline after-taste of her goods. Kagami instantly regretted his actions when she saw her slumped shoulders with both of her mended hands fiddling together dejectedly. 

“It tastes horrible, I knew it. Dai-chan was right, I should stay away from the kitchen before I kill somebody” she said it in the most heartbroken way and for some reason he felt somewhat sad for her. She did try her best, and who was he to discredit someone who was passionate in learning outside of her comfort zone. 

“The texture was fine, a little salty but edible.” He didn’t look at her eyes, but he spoke in a slow and quiet tone. So quiet that she could probably hear the resounding attempt to soothe her of her current predicament.

When Momoi started to tear up, he didn’t know what he had possibly said wrong. He was suddenly panic-stricken, unsure of what to do because for the second time since yesterday, she was crying again. Racking his brain out, Kagami thought his comment wasn’t really that bad when a pair of slender arms encircled his huge body in a soft hug. 

Kagami was not new to any physical contact amongst women. He had Alex since childhood, who was sickeningly perverted. He’d seen her naked glory and had been occasionally kissed out of whim. So, when he felt her soft little body plastered to hers and shortened breaths fanning against his chest, he was perplexed by the funny feeling of spirals to god knows where.

“Thank you, Kagamin” she whispered, and he felt his heart leap out of his chest because why not. Damn, women are so confusing.


	5. An Arrangement

In her next attempt, Momoi was keen on adding sugar and avoiding salt, a little terrified of ending up with saline-tasting cookies again. Consequently, she ended up making them a little too sweet. 

Struggling her way to learn the basics of baking, she finally made an adequate cookie on her fourth attempt. A little bit disfigured yes, but it tasted like a normal chocolate chip cookie somehow. She kept a little smile to her tired self, as she watched Kagami sanitize their little workspace. Faced in a room of silence, she couldn’t stop herself from slipping to a small trip down memory lane. 

She remembered quite well; she was 12 when she learned of her inability to cook. During middle school, Momoi Satsuki was deemed perfect by everyone. She was smart, rich, popular and ridiculously attractive to a fault, hence, earning a label of walking perfection. Well she was that, until she held a spoon during a session in their Economics class. She nearly set the room on fire, and everyone was terrified. More outrageously, they were making rice balls that time, so the likeliness of burning something was down to zero, if not negative. It wasn’t long until Aomine relayed her cooking fiasco and everyone in the basketball team heard it. Since then, her cooking skills had been a regular subject of teasing, even Akashi who was so uptight seem to tremble a bit when her cooking has been made mention. 

It wasn’t as if Momoi had accepted her failure, she enrolled at culinary classes several summers after that incident, but everything proved unsuccessful. Since then, she understood that cooking and Satsuki were two conflicting forces. She dared not hold a knife ever again, well that was until her recent attempt to bake something for the team. 

Because of this tiny little fact, Aomine had always found a way to blow her off in a vindictive way of ego crushing. You’ll never be a bride if you can’t even hold a knife. Yes, he was a douche like that. She laughed a little on the inside, wondering the kind of face he’ll making while he ate her awfully decent tasting goods. 

A sounding release of breath snapped her out of her daydream. His lengthy shoulders, heaving up and down from polishing the kitchen floor while beads of sweat raced down the contours of his well-defined face. Ruddy eyebrows clashing against each other in a frown, towards the floorboards. She decided that Kagami and Dai-chan are of one feather, but not quite. 

* * * * * * * 

One disastrous cooking session was done, and two tired souls were sitting on Kagami’s seemingly large cushions. The redhead was surfing through an array of channel selections, trying to find a basketball related show on air while Momoi was, well splayed out on the chair wearing her most exhausted look. She was blowing off her imaginary exhaustion from her overworked hands, four attempts prove to be quite a struggle after all. A resounding uproar from the television shrouded the room as Kagami eased and started to watch a basketball match. 

Ten seconds later, he closed the television quite infuriatedly. The match wasn’t even worth watching, he thought while folding his arms up in a bored yawn. 

“Kagamin, is this yours?” a soft voice called him out from his thoughts and he instantly froze. In his defense, it was a normal reaction since Momoi, who was a little less than one meter away from him, had been holding out one of his failed test papers. Fuck he thought

Her grip against the piece of paper was short-lived because Kagami snatched his belonging so fast that she couldn’t even afford to blink. 

“Oi, don’t touch my things” he reprimanded her with a frown, while hiding the remnants of his failure behind his back. With two double brows glaring down, any normal human would be petrified, but she wasn’t anywhere near normal. She didn’t even bat an eyelash, she merely frowned and bent over to reach for his remaining test results. 

When he saw her going through his papers, he realized that there was no point in hiding anymore. He watched her closely, waiting for a reaction of sort but she didn’t even look surprised. 

“I knew from my data that you are not particularly good at studying, but I didn’t expect this much” she heard her mutter under her breath in a matter of factly tone and Kagami had the audacity to blush at her comment. 

“Shu-shut up! This is none of your business!” Never had he ever been embarrassed for being a dumb piece of shit, ever. Well, he couldn’t blame himself, basketball is way more interesting than studying anyway.

“Wow, Dai-chan is really dumb but I can’t believe he scored two points higher than you in English!” she practically beamed, unable to read the enormity of the situation she had just placed them in. And Kagami, well, one may say that he looked exactly like a shocked porcupine from where he stood.

Asshomine? He was dumber than that perverted dickface Asshomine?! What a ridiculous proposition. There definitely is no way in hell that he was going to lose to that pathetic excuse of a basketball crazed caveman. No fucking way! He was practically seething at the mere mention of the blue haired man. 

“Say Kagamin, are you perhaps preparing for the Tokyo-wide proficiency exam next week?” she asked, but her voice was laced with some sort of certainty and Kagami thought inwardly how women are so inescapable at moments like this. He merely grunted in response, still appalled by the fact that he was dumber than some idiot. 

“Alright I have decided!” she spoke a little louder while pointing his awfully marked papers at him. Perplexed by her current predicament, Kagami merely shot him a questioning look.

“I will help you ace that exam in exchange for cooking lessons!” 

And just like that, he knew he was in for another set of scary adventure with Satsuki.


End file.
